This blog consists of articles collected from various sources or supplied by well-wishers. Articles posted are those which I found interesting and would like to share. Though I can and sometimes do claim credit for few being my own.

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pidgin - Invisible Mode in Google Talk

One of the most glaring drawback with Google Talk is probably the lack of proper updates and new releases being integrated into the software. I do not use the chat option inside Google Mail. Therefore, one aspect I find particularly irritating with Google Talk is not to be able to appear as invisible. As I mentioned in my last post I use Pidgin for IM. Here’s how you can appear invisible in Google Talk using Pidgin.

Go to Tools-> Plugins. Scroll down the list of available plugins. Install the plugin called XMPP Console.

Now go to Tools->XMPP Console->XMPP Console.

Type the following in the console and send the message.

<presence type="unavailable"> <priority>5</priority> </presence>

Now you will appear as invisible to all your friends. Remember you need to resend the message every time you relogin to Google Talk, i.e., this is a per-session notification.

In case you need to appear available to specific friends, you can sent them custom notifications about your availability using the above plugin. Open XMPP Console as above and click on <presence/>. In the following pop-up dialog box, fill in the necessary details and send.

Seems troublesome, eh? Then why bother with all this crap. Add the Google Talk invisible plugin to Pidgin. Go to http://fahhem.com/pidgin/ and follow the instructions.

Guess What I found this article on my first page of a google search on "Google Talk". Interesting to see your article come up there - All made possible through Google's social circle search http://www.google.com/s2/search/social#socialcircle

Nice article, I will try to install the Pidgin, any idea if my Skype account can be merged in. Did not find any convincing plug-ins which wont's import my phone book contacts and only the IM contacts. Let me know if you find one! Alz fine, I suppose?